tina berry wrote:Oh dear I am not doing very well. Any suggestions as to how long I leave it before re-potting again?
Very generally [barring any emergency situations], Bonsai are usually repotted at minimally annual intervals. Periods of 3 to 5 years are not uncommon for established trees. Repotting is a stressful event for the tree you see.
[url=https://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basics_Repotting1.html]Here[/url]is an article about this.
Please could you look at the attached link, would any of these soils be a good option. This store is within driving distance so I could pick up from soil from there:
Glad to see your searching
This is from the description of the first soil listed [2.2L] on that page:
This bonsai soil has been produced and mixed in the UK by bonsai professionals.
The soil based mix contains Akadama, Kiryu, grit and fertiliser. The soil based mix has superior water retention over most other products on the market and will help hold the tree steadily in it's pot.
I am not a fan of soils that include ferts [My trees 'eat' when I say so & I know how much and when they 'eat'.
]
I am also bit concerned about "soil based mix" as that indicates to me [as does the picture...Though that could be bark bits I am seeing in the picture..maybe?? Bark would be far more suitable than actual soil] that possibly they have actual 'garden type soil' mixed in [Which would account for the 'superior water retention', So this does not exactly seem to be a good thing.]
I would take a good look at a bag of the first soil [Well, Each of the available soils actually, See if you can get them to open a bag - Or to see a tree potted in said bonsai soil.] and if it has a substantial amount of 'actual gardening type soil' in it..I wouldn't be thrilled about it.
The second soil listed may be better yet. As it is twice the price and the amount included [9Kg!] is a bit of overkill it may not be your best option. [Unless you have other trees on the horizon
]
Having said that: I do think either is an improvement over whats in the pot at the moment.
This is a bit off of your question but I am going to expand on watering for a bit...I know it is redundant and I may be harping a bit...But it is important.
Watering mistakes IMO account for an astoundingly high % of bonsai deaths when starting out, It's the primary cause by far.
Watering is
all about
frequency, Not the
amount that you water.
Remember as I noted before that the goal each time you water is a complete saturation, So the effect is a complete watering every time you do it.
No more water until it is just barely moist a bit down in the pot. [As described before] Then another complete watering...Repeat
Speaking of watering, You may note that the site you linked to does have excellent info on watering bonsai at [url=https://www.thebonsaistore.co.uk/watering]this[/url]page.
I notice that the entire article was cut/pasted
word for word from several portions of the article [url=https://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basics_Watering.html]here[/url] which happens to be the site I have already linked you to previously.
[Potentially this was nicked without permission, Evidenced in that they neglected to post a credit/permission granted statement -
SHAME!]
Good questions- Keep posting
ynot
